"Iranian Protesters Remain Resolute"

Iranian protesters remain resolute
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2989778.stm

(Crowds of students in the Iranian capital Tehran have staged nights of protests to express anger about the slow pace of reform in the country.
The rare show of defiance against the power of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been harshly suppressed by conservative vigilantes and the Iranian authorities.

BBC News Online has received e-mails from some of the demonstrators and others affected by the action. The following comments reflect the balance of views we have received: )


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This is some interesting stuff. Remember, this is the BBC, good old American-hating BBC, and the e-mails listed in this article "reflect the balance of views" they've received. Not an anti-American one amongst the assortment, and check these comments out:

"PRESIDENT BUSH PLEASE HELP US"
Ali M., Iran

"The Iranian people have shown their urgent tendency for freedom. Now the US must start to support the demonstration by warning the Iran government not to act against the people. This enforcement from the outside and people's demonstration inside, will finally down the Iran regime. We are waiting for immediate support of the US."
Farshad, Iran

"I hope the US attacks with cruise missiles some Sepah/Intelligence ministry buildings! And I hope at least some of MPs who have signed the letter against Khamenei, stand up strongly for people."
Hadi, Iran

Some good stuff, eh? Pardners, it's time to deputize some sheriffs, get our six-shooters, and raise the doggies. Get the women, children, and Western Europeans into the house - we're going to liberate another Middle Eastern country! Yee-haw!


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*Good to see that living under Islamic fundamentalism hasn't deprived Iranians of their sense of humor:

"I absolutely reject the concept of "democracy" and "freedom" as nakedly false phantoms of the west. Who would ever want to be "free" when they could instead live in the glorious order and sanctified grace of Sharia? Why does anyone need to have an opinion for himself?"
Shahin Shahida, Iran

There's certainly frustration with the Mullahs in Iran, but I don't know that protestors are necesarily an accurate sample of the Iranian population wanting to be bombed. Hopefully, change will find a way to occur from within since there is already a parliamentary democracy in place. It's just toothless right now.

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Hopefully, change will find a way to occur from within since there is already a parliamentary democracy in place. It's just toothless right now.

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That's what they keep saying about China.

I had some comments complaining about our own mess and our cranky State Department that can't seem to follow the Administration's orders to the letter, but then I read the emails on that link.

I don't think we need to take military action on Iran at the moment.

However, I do think that we need to invite the Ayatollah over for a good ol' Texas bar-b-que so he and Dubbya can have a nice long chat. "Suggest" that he shouldn't let his thugs spray bullets randomly into protestors. Throw out some hints that he should pay attention to what they say. Arrange for some assistance if he gets with the program.

Kind of like what we should be doing with North Korea, instead of getting pissy just because they have nukes.

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Originally posted by Stone
"I hope the US attacks with cruise missiles some Sepah/Intelligence ministry buildings! And I hope at least some of MPs who have signed the letter against Khamenei, stand up strongly for people."
Hadi, Iran

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Heh, I thought that was kinda cute. Akin to, "Yeah, we want our problems bombed away too." Although I'm flattered he trusts our missile technology to such an extent, Iran is one case where I think we can play the pressure card for awhile (given the Iraq war) - for the moment, at least. Imagine how some Iranians feel (not to mention the government) having gone thru a bloody 8 year war with Iraq and the US coming along to do the job within a month... They gotta be like, WTF?!?!?!?

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Originally posted by Stone
Who would ever want to be "free" when they could instead live in the glorious order and sanctified grace of Sharia?

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Heh, we need more subversives like him all over Islamdom...

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Originally posted by Lhadatt
That's what they keep saying about China.

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Give it time, my man. Despite incidents like Tienanmen, China has made great strides toward civil society since Deng Xiaoping. Things will only become more open once the Yuan becomes listed on world markets. They've come a long way since the Cultural Revlution.

Despite how things look on tv, Iranians are actually pretty mellow folks with a long history of getting along with other ethnic groups - there have been christians living there for hundreds of years.

The impetus for change is there (don't forget, Khomeni gained power through a free election in the first place).

Urm Khomeini gained power becouse of the ironfist rule of the US backed Shah, he was a dictator who rose to power with help from the CIA after overturning a democraticaly elected progresive government that wasnt to the liking of the US.

Urm when talking about the dictatorship im talking about the shah, and yes he was replaced by someone not any better.

I hate to say it Stone, but I wrote all those letters as a joke just to see how long it would take you to quote them on TNL.

So the other half of "The Coalition's" media can no longer get away with being anti-american and had to hire some sweatshop creative writers to dream up some bullshit so that we ("THe Coalition" now)can perpetuate a state of war in the middle east when we need to mind our fucking business at home.

I'm sure glad I already read 1984 so I could be ahead of the game in malarkey like this.

Pa

*raises suspicious eyebrow*

I knew it was you, Pa!

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Originally posted by PaCrappa
So the other half of "The Coalition's" media can no longer get away with being anti-american and had to hire some sweatshop creative writers to dream up some bullshit so that we ("THe Coalition" now)can perpetuate a state of war in the middle east when we need to mind our fucking business at home.

Pa

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Heheh, maybe the same people who came up with these letters are allied with the people who hire actors to portray Cubans crossing the Gulf of Mexico in inner-tubes in order to continue a campaign of disinformation against what is, in actuality, a socialist utopia run by a benevolent cigar-and-baseball-loving old man. People love Cuba! Castro is great! Iran is great!

I love it, though. Strange bedfellows, eh, when you've got so-called liberals defending Islamic theocracies.

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Originally posted by Almaci
Urm Khomeini gained power becouse of the ironfist rule of the US backed Shah, he was a dictator who rose to power with help from the CIA after overturning a democraticaly elected progresive government that wasnt to the liking of the US.

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Wasn't the "democratically elected progressive government" run by a guy who had enacted martial law for a few years in advance of the coup? The guy was allied with pro-Soviet political parties, and had that government stayed in power, Iran probably would've gone over to the Russians fairly soon afterward. Yeah, the Shah was a fascist, but his rule was better than what life would've been like under the USSR, and it was a hell of a lot better than life under the Mullahs has been for the last 20 years.

Another one of those situations where Iran was faced with three bad options - the Shah was the best of the three. Again, it's another difficult geopolitical choice that offers the left opportunity for attacking US foreign policy if you're willing to ignore the necessity of making hard choices.

Ah yeah sure, the domino theory, if Iran falls to comunism the entire middle east will crumble, silly boy.